Pope Francis surprisingly absent from Synod on Synodality

Vatikanstadt - Although he was announced: Surprisingly, Pope Francis did not take part in the deliberations at the beginning of the second assembly week of the Synod on Synodality. There is an assumption as to why this is so.

Published on 09.10.2023 at 16:59 –

Pope Francis surprisingly did not take part in the deliberations at the beginning of the second week of the Synod on Synodality. Although he had been announced, the 86-year-old was absent from the audience hall in the Vatican, which had been converted into a synod auditorium, for the entire Monday morning.

Observers suspect that the war in the Holy Land could have been a reason. Also on Monday, the Israeli embassy to the Holy See had criticised in a statement that the leaders of the Christian churches had so far not condemned the attack on Israel by the terrorist organisation Hamas clearly enough. In this context, the embassy recalled the silence of Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) in the face of the extermination of Jews in the Third Reich. (CBA)